Yarralumla Nursery’s staff carefully monitor the conditions of the seed bank.
27 March 2024
When bushfire swept through Yarramundi Reach in 2003, it took with it Roman Cypress trees first planted in 1916.
While that exact type of Cyprus could well have disappeared from the ACT, Yarralumla Nursery’s seed bank came to the rescue.
“Yarralumla Nursery’s seed bank is a wonderful resource that has been used to create Canberra’s urban forest,” the nursery’s Senior Director Matt Parker said.
“We were able to propagate the same genetic Cyprus from our seed bank.”
The seed bank is a living record of every seed collected, purchased and stored at the Yarralumla Nursery since 1913.
The latest to be added are the seeds of the Bunya Pine tree.
Native to Queensland, these large conifers hold sacred values for First Nations peoples and come from a plant family dating back to the Jurassic period.
Bunya Pines can be found throughout Canberra – from the National Arboretum to Lanyon Homestead.
The seed bank is a valuable historical asset for the nursery and the role it has played in establishing Canberra’s green spaces.
It now contains over 200 genus of seeds, with relevant information painstakingly recorded.
Seeds are stored in alphabetical order, in old glass ‘lolly’ jars of all shapes and sizes.
They are hand-labelled with the species weight and seed registration number and consistently maintained at 20–22°C.
“If seeds are dried and stored correctly, there are minimal issues,” Yarralumla Nursery Production Operations Manager Belinda Ryan said.
“Our propagation staff specialise in monitoring the conditions of the seed bank and storing the seeds. For example, jars need to be at least two-thirds full of seed to maintain temperature and reduce air moisture and you can’t put seed into warm jars as this may break seed dormancy, meaning they could start to grow.”
Around 15,000 plant cards – which staff refer to as birth certificates – feature seed information dating back to 1913.
While these were once housed in wooden draws at the nursery they have since been digitised and are available on the Archives ACT website.
“Some Eucalyptus species from the ’60s are still viable and germinating,” Belinda said.
“The seed bank at Yarralumla Nursery is an amazing space full of nostalgia; I like searching through and finding the oldest seeds,” Matt said.
And now the newest are safely stored under B for Bunya Pine.
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